The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Vertically oriented painting depicting a kneeling man with light skin tone wearing a light blue robe that completely covers his legs and his hands, folded in his lap. He has a brown beard, lights eyes, a white turban wrapped around his head, and sits in front of a solid orange background. Bands of Persian script run above and below the central image. Pale green and cream rectangles frame the image, decorated with floral patterns.

Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim Album

c. 1556–60; border c. 1602

attributed to Mir Sayyid Ali

(Persian, active in Iran 1540s–50, active in India 1555–1580)
Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper, laid down on an album page with cream borders decorated with gold flowers and geometric motifs
Painting: 12 x 7.1 cm (4 3/4 x 2 13/16 in.); Overall: 23.3 x 14.9 cm (9 3/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.295
Location: 242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

In this sensitive portrayal of a charlatan holy man, the eyes are pale and empty.

Description

The kneeling figure is a charlatan holy man who wears the blue robe of a Sufi mystic. According to the inscriptions above and below the painting, he acts humble and pious for monetary gain rather than sincerity of devotion. Images of charlatan holy men recur in Mughal painting, including in the Cleveland Tuti-Nama.

Mir Sayyid Ali was the first head of the Mughal workshop under Akbar. He was responsible for training Indian artists to adopt Persian sensibilities, admired by elites of the Islamic world during the 1400s to at least the 1700s.
  • Before 1962
    Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York, NY
    December 6, 1967
    (Sotheby’s, London, Highly Important Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures: The Property of the Kevorkian Foundation, lot 47)
    1967–2013
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection
    2013–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. Reproduced: cat. no. 2, p. 308, figure 4.34, p. 161; mentioned: pp. 161–162 and 309
  • Indian Painting of the 1500s: Continuities and Transformations. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
    On loan to the San Diego Museum of Art (2005)
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a kneeling holy man, from the Prince Salim Album|url=false|author=Mir Sayyid Ali|year=c. 1556–60; border c. 1602|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.295